How to Train Your Pokémon

A/N: Time for a whole bunch of emotions to come out, along with a couple of surprises. Curious? Read and find out. Roll it!

Bold italics- Pokémon speech

Chapter 23

Hope Starts a Fire

After long agonizing minutes, Mari was sitting in the front room, looking out towards the empty docks, while the twins just watched her from the hallway leading into the kitchen. They knew that Elysia was on the leading boat, being held captive in a large, glass electric-proof cage and forced to lead their entire people towards their doom. Also, their father and Aiden's would be crossed in the line of fire, and it will be too late for them. Their mother would be utterly heartbroken.

There was a little knock on the window. Mari wiped her wet eyes with her arm, which was sticky with dried tears and looked out. Aiden was standing there, looking at her with concerned eyes. She came over and opened the window. Aiden tried to come in, but was stopped by the barrier that was put over the house by Dawn. He instead just placed his palm onto the surface of the shield. Mari placed hers at the same spot.

After a few seconds, Aiden removed his hand and gazed out towards the docks, Mari copying him, both sitting on the window ledge on opposite sides. Neither of them said a word.

"It's a mess." The Newton boy began. "You must feel horrible. You've lost everything: your mother, your faction, your best friend."

"Thank you for summing that up." Mari said sarcastically. Luke and Evan gave him a harsh look, silently saying "Is that how you cheer someone up?"

Mari sighed deeply. "Why didn't I capture that little Pokémon when I found her injured in the woods?" She asked herself. "Probably would have been better for everyone else."

Aiden nodded. "Yup, the rest of us would've done it without a second thought. So why didn't you?"

Mari was silent as the twins slightly leaned in to hear her response. Why didn't she? The girl who pretty much had no friends, no support, and was an outcast to her entire faction, the opportunity was practically given to her to change her life. Yet, what stopped her?

However, she just shrugged. "I don't know." She said, turning away from her old friend. "I couldn't."

"That's not an answer." Aiden said.

Mari scoffed. "Why is this so important to you all of a sudden?" She demanded, her temper starting to flare up. The twins instinctively backed away a few inches, expecting a dangerous light show coming up.

"Because I want to remember what you say right now." Aiden answered, his voice firm.

Mari growled lowly. He was pretty much asking her to change all of history with just a few simple words. Well, she tried that and it failed, leading her and her brothers to be under house arrest! Sparks rapidly started to appear around her, from her fingertips to coiling around her ponytail, causing it to frizz up slightly.

"Oh, for the love of Arceus!" She exclaimed, and faced him, her brown eyes turning up like flames. "I was a coward! I was weak! I wouldn't capture a Pokémon!"

"You said 'wouldn't' that time." Aiden pointed out.

"WHATEVER!" Mari shouted, slamming her palm against the barrier in an attempt to shock him out of irritation, but the barrier only lit up even brighter, absorbing the electric blast. Aiden slightly backed away from the shield, and the twins covered their eyes from the brightness.

"I wouldn't!" Mari continued, cooling down a little bit, but there were still some sparks jolting from her fingertips. "Fifteen years of living a lie, and I'm the first Trainer that wouldn't capture a Pokémon and make it suffer for the rest of its days." Hoping that she made her point across, she turned away from Aiden once more.

"First to train one in fifteen years, though." Aiden said. His words made her perk up slightly in realization. "So?" He carefully pressed on.

Luke and Evan watched their sister think deeply as she considered what to say. They knew that Mari had freed Elysia for some reason, but they never knew exactly why, for she never told them. But what she might say next can change everything. It can be the key that will make their faction see clearly again.

Finally, Mari slowly faced Aiden. "I wouldn't capture her because she looked as frightened as I was." She said, remembering that day when she first met Elysia. How those black eyes that were rumored to be as cold as stone, though none had supposedly seen one, had a glimmer of fear in them. How she spared her life, and how she returned the favor. "I looked at her and I saw myself."

Aiden glanced back at the docks. "I bet she's really frightened now." He said. "What are you going to do about it?"

Mari followed his gaze. What was she going to do about it? Like her parents, she was never keen on staying in one place.

"Eh, probably something stupid." She said, glancing at Aiden and the barrier between them.

Aiden subtly caught her gaze. "Good, but you've already done that." He said.

The sparks disappeared as Mari had a confident smirk come on her face. "Then something crazy." She replied.

Aiden returned the smirk. "That's more like it."

Mari turned over to the twins, who were watching the exchange. "What do you say, guys?" She asked.

Evan smiled at her. "We're in." He said.

"Uh, I don't want to spoil the mood here," Luke interrupted, "but how are we going to do something crazy if this stupid barrier is keeping us here?" He pointed toward the barely visible yellow, navy and blue shield covering the house.

Aiden had a strange smirk come on his face. "Don't worry, guys." He said confidently. "I've got this."

The Ketchum kids looked at him with raised eyebrows. "How?" Luke asked. "This thing is pretty much indestructible!"

"We even tried our powers, yet nothing." Mari added.

Aiden still smiled coyly. "Trust me." He said simply. He then stood up from the ledge and took a few steps back. "You three might want to step back."

The three Ketchum kids looked at each other with confusion, but stepped back away from the window. Aiden locked his gaze at the barrier and took a deep breath. He felt something course through his veins and started to direct that feeling into his right hand. He looked down and saw crackling energy with colors of all shades of magenta and rose, along with hints of purple and green.

Feeling satisfied, he then pushed out his palm, and the energy came crackling towards the barrier like a lightning bolt. Once on impact, the barrier shattered like glass and dissipated into light. Once it faded, Aiden looked at the Ketchum kids, and almost laughed at their gobsmacked expressions.

"How in the name of all the dimensions did you do that?" Luke demanded, not moving from his spot.

Aiden gave a short chuckle and came over to him. "You probably wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Talk." Evan demanded, crossing his arms and narrowing his eyes in suspicion.

Aiden shrugged, feeling indifferent to Evan's attempt at interrogating. "Well, after you guys were taken away by your mother, I ran off to hide from my family, who I know were going to grill me after what had happened."

Flashback

Aiden felt like he hadn't run faster in his life, even before he discovered the Ketchum kids' secret yesterday. He knew that all four of them were going to be in so much trouble. Finally, he stopped at the cave to catch his breath. He knew that no one would find him there, since hardly no one else knows about it.

He felt anger bubbling up inside as the day's events came back into his head. He was definitely surprised to see Dawn use her own Trainee powers in front of everyone, but to see her use it to trap her own kids, he was definitely mad.

Aiden continued to let his anger course through his veins until he felt something warm and powerful crackling around his fingertips. He glanced down to see dark magenta energy with hues of blue and green circling his fingers.

"AAH!" He screamed and jumped straight into the air. The energy got more wild, and he tried to shoo it away like it was slime. The energy fired like a bolt and destroyed a boulder. Aiden stared at his hand in wonder.

"Whoa." He said, opening and closing his hand. "But how?"

Immediately, his mind flashed to what happened in the Arena a couple of hours earlier. He had saved Mari from the Lucario, and then she saved him. But when they were in that... position that he didn't want to dwell on too long, they saw that there was a raspberry glow on his chest from where her hand been. Did it have something to do with the energy? It must be.

Well, he had to get some answers later. Right now, he had some friends he needed to rescue.

End of Flashback

Aiden tried to keep himself together from busting up laughing when he saw the Ketchum kids with their jaws dropped.

"So that happened after I saved your skin?" Mari finally asked. After Aiden nodded, she then looked at her brothers. "How is that possible?"

Evan scrunched his nose in thought. "I'm not sure." He answered. "But I have a theory that that could be how Mom became a Trainee. Remember, Dad said she was a normal human until he... somehow saved her from something."

"Then she became a Trainee." Mari concluded. "That must have what happened with us." She added, looking at Aiden.

"Uh, I have a question." Luke interrupted. "How did your power break the barrier when ours didn't?"

"Mom's barriers must be specialized for very specific abilities." Evan said. "Kind of like strengths and weaknesses for Pokémon."

"That's a thought." Aiden said.

"And she was just focusing on containing only our own abilities." Luke added. "And she doesn't know of Aiden's new abilities."

"What are your new abilities, to be specific?" Evan asked.

"I'm not sure." Aiden said.

Mari then recognized what the bolt of energy looked like. She had seen it in the Arena a couple of times before during training sessions.

"It looked like a Psywave attack." She said. "Your abilities are like a Psychic type."

Aiden's eyes widened, first in surprise, but then in delight. "Cool!" He said. "I can probably move things with my mind!"

"Not to spoil the mood again, but we do have most of the adults leading an attack on Cinnabar Island, wanting to destroy the Pokémon compound, and possibly even destroy our fathers being held captive there?" Luke reminded.

"WHAT?!" Aiden squawked loudly. "Well, then what are we waiting for?" He said.

"First," Mari stopped him, "we need to get a couple of more helpers for this mission."

*************************

Meanwhile, out on the sea, the few large boats carrying the majority of the Trainer faction were slowly drifting through the thick fog banks that surrounded Cinnabar Island. Dawn was on the main boat, staring out towards the mist. Her heart was thumping wildly with anticipation, yet it felt like it was in a thousand pieces. The look on her children's faces kept playing in her mind until it hurt.

She was brought out of her jumbled thoughts when she heard someone coming up to her. She turned around and saw Gary there.

"Hey, Dawn. You alright?" He asked. He had noticed that she had been awfully quiet since they left Pallet Town.

Dawn abruptly turned away from him, erasing any sign that she was feeling any sort of sadness. "Yes, I'm fine." She answered, returning her gaze to the foggy horizon. Gary wanted to argue with her, but her posture gave him reason not to.

Suddenly, there was a banging noise. Dawn and Gary turned around and saw Elysia trying to tackle the giant orb that she was being kept in. She had given up on trying to electrocute the glass cage into shards from the inside and was now charging it, resulting in big headaches.

"Feisty little thing, isn't she?" Gary whispered. "Just like someone else I know."

Dawn only nodded, biting her lip to keep the fond look away that wanted to form on her face. Just like Ash and Pikachu. She thought.

"Let me out of here, you cowardly excuses for Trainers!" Elysia shouted, knowing that none of the Trainers could understand her, not even Dawn, for she hasn't touched her yet to activate her Pokémon comprehension. At least they won't understand the profanities she can yell at them.

Suddenly, there was a much bigger pain pounding in her head, and she began clutching it with her paws, trying to dispel it. Dawn took notice of it.

"Get ready, and follow my lead." She commanded to the captain.

Dawn quickly stuck her hand in a small hole in Elysia's container and swiftly brushed a finger against her fur, now able to understand her.

"No!" Elysia shouted, knowing right then what Dawn was planning. She then began tilting her head over to the left, trying to make the pain stop. But Dawn knew that without even knowing it, the female Pikachu would be leading them to the compound.

"Left!" She shouted, and the boat began turning towards the left. Then, Elysia began turning her head to the right.

"Right!" Dawn commanded. The boat then steered towards the right.

****************************

Meanwhile, back at Pallet Town, the Ketchum kids were back in the Arena, facing the doors that held the Pokémon that they've trained against.

"If you plan on getting killed, I'd definitely go with the Larvitar." A voice said. They turned around and saw that Aiden brought Keira and Jenna with him.

"So you turned our brother into one of you guys?" Keira asked Mari.

"Uh, yeah?" Mari asked, rubbing the back of her head. "It was unintentional."

"I have a hypothesis as to why." Evan said to them. "I think that if a Trainee saves someone important to them, then they become a Trainee themselves. At least that's what happened with our parents."

"Someone important?" Aiden asked, glancing at Mari and trying his best to stop a cat-like grin from forming on his face.

Mari's cheeks turned bright pink, and crossed her arms, her eyes narrowing. "Well, we have been friends since we were kids. Of course you'd be important to me." She said, stating it like it was obvious.

Aiden now knew that the smirk was plastered on his face. "Whatever you say, Mari-etta." He teased.

Now Mari's face was a deep crimson color. She remembered when she and Aiden were much younger, like 6 years old, that they used to love learning about Legendary and Mythical Pokémon, and hearing the many stories of them. Mari's favorite was Meloetta, because she loved to sing just like the Mythical Pokémon, so Aiden gave her the nickname "Mari-etta," which was kind of a pun of her real nickname and Meloetta. However, she returned the favor by calling him, "Aid-tini", a pun on his name and Victini, which was his favorite.

"Yeah, right." Mari scoffed, before a wicked smile came on her face. "Aid-tini." This time, it was Aiden's turn to turn bright red, but he still flashed her a bright smile as fond memories came back.

"Okay, you two." Luke said. "Enough with the pet names. What's the plan, Mari?" He asked his sister.

"First, we need all the flyers we can get." Mari said, glancing at Keira and Jenna.

"How?" The youngest Newton asked.

Mari grabbed Aiden's hand and pulled him aside. "Like this!" She said.

Electricity began coiling around her wrists and she fired at the two girls at high speeds. They both quickly knew that they wouldn't be able to dodge them in time. Luke and Evan sprang into action and pushed the two of them out of the way.

Luke looked down at Keira and saw that she was beside him, his hand tightly gripping her forearm. Something like black ink was forming under his palm and onto her skin. He quickly removed his hand and it took the shape of butterfly wings before dissipating into nothing.

"Sorry." He said. "I forgot you don't like ink."

Keira rubbed her arm, as if trying to scrub away the already vanishing ink. "Well, at least I like black." Luke took notice that there was no trace of flirting in her voice.

Evan and Jenna however, the former had his arm around the latter, and both of them were on their stomachs. Evan looked over at his friend and saw that where his arm was, there was glittering silver liquid running across her back. He jumped away, and the mercury-like substance started to soak into her skin, also taking the shape of butterfly wings, while the fabric of her shirt remained clean and fine.

"Now that's something you don't see everyday." He said, pulling Jenna back up to her feet.

Jenna tried to look over to her back, and the last of the substance had vanished. "Definitely." She added.

"Okay, hopefully that worked." Mari said. "Now, you just need to let your powers come through, so that we can see what type you specialize in."

Aiden used his new psychic powers to levitate a couple of barrels over to his sisters. "Feel the righteous fury in you, and then release it."

The Newton girls nodded at their older brother, and then started letting anger and the rush of adrenaline course through their veins. Keira felt something tingle around her fingertips and then she threw it towards her barrels. Rings of dark purple and black energy were unleashed and the barrels become splinters.

"Whoa!" Luke exclaimed, this time pretty impressed. "That was like a Dark Pulse."

"Huh." Keira said with wonder, looking down at her hand. "Well, I've always been a little partial to Dark types."

"Seems pretty fitting." Luke agreed, giving her a small smile. This time, Keira only gave him a friendly grin in return. Now that was the girl that he'd liked to be around when they were kids.

Suddenly, there was a loud rumbling noise beneath their feet as a large chunk of the stone floor of the Arena was pulled off by an invisible force. Immediately, it was pointed to Jenna who then telekinetically threw the rock at her barrel, resulting in it sharing the same fate as its twin.

Evan whistled, obviously impressed. "Rock manipulation." He said. "That's definitely something."

Jenna gave him a playful smirk. "Well, I've always liked Rock types." She answered simply.

Aiden then turned over to Mari. "Okay, that's Phase 1." He said. "What's Phase 2?"

The answer he got was a simple smile that spoke determination, making her brown eyes sparkle.

*********************************

Back out at sea, the boats were following Elysia's secret instructions, though the poor Electric type was now almost on her stomach, writing in pain as the call to come grew stronger.

Dawn had already bit her lip several times to keep herself from wincing visibly as she heard the painful shouts of the female Pikachu that her daughter had befriended. It reminded her of the many times before where she had heard another Pikachu cry out in pain years ago, but it was never like this.

Eventually, there was a loud, heartbreaking scream coming from the female Pikachu. Dawn closed her eyes to block it out before her heart split in two. However, it was only for a moment when the boat suddenly lurched forward, hitting a loose but gravelly surface.

Dawn made her way back over to the front, where Gary was staring at what was ahead. The sleeping volcano that hasn't erupted in years loomed ahead, its silhouette a dark shadow in the thick fog. 

The Chieftess of the Trainer faction looked back over at Elysia, who had finally collapsed on her belly, tired and exhausted from exerting all of her will power to fight off the siren-like summon coming from the compound. She made eye contact with Dawn for a few seconds.

"You're making a big mistake." She said to the older Trainee, her squeaky voice hoarse before she shut her eyes again to mentally regain her strength. Dawn took it in for a moment, before pushing it away and jumped out of the boat.

As soon as her feet made contact with the sand, everything seemed to grow silent. Dawn felt chills go down her spine, sensing that something might be wrong. But she had no time to listen to her gut. She had a mission she needed to finish, no matter the cost.

*********************************

However, back at Pallet Town, another mission was about to get underway. Mari pulled down the lever of the cage to release Lucario again. "Are you sure that this is a good idea?" Keira asked, getting a little nervous.

"Chill, Keira." Luke assured her. "I can handle this one."

Keira gave him a playful smirk. "I thought I was supposed to be the flirty one." She teased.

Luke gave her a glare. "We'll talk about that later." He said firmly.

"Yeah, sure. Talk." Evan joked, which resulted in his twin brother jabbing him in the stomach. "Okay, I'll stop." He surrendered.

Luke rolled his blue eyes and came over to the opening doors. He stretched out his hand, using his Aura sensibilities to find that Lucario. In a couple of seconds, he found her signature.

"Hey." He called out. "It's okay. We're not going to hurt you. We need your help."

"You humans needing help?" The female Lucario asked, making herself seen as she appeared in the daylight.

Luke nodded. "You know what I am, right?" He said. "I'm a Trainee."

The Lucario's eyes widened. "That makes sense of how you can understand what I'm saying." She said.

"Look, we need help." Luke said. "Our people are trying to find the compound, using my sister's Pikachu as a guide. For sure, using her will lead them right to it. But they're no match for the horrors inside that compound, right?"

The Lucario nodded. "No, they have no idea what lies inside." She answered.

"Also, our father and theirs are being held captive there." Luke continued. "If they lay siege to it, they'll surely be caught in the crossfire. I don't know about you, but me, my siblings, and our friends will not lose them again."

He then extended his hand to her. "What do you say? Will you help us, and make this world better for all people and Pokémon?"

Luke waited there, standing patiently, watching the Lucario with intense, determined eyes. Everyone else watching went back and forth with bated breaths. Slowly, the Lucario placed her palm in Luke's.

"I sense that your heart is brave and good." She said. "I will assist you in your mission."

Luke smiled widely. "Thank you." He said.

Everyone that was watching sighed with relief and amazement. Luke led his new friend over to them.

"That's so cool!" Jenna squealed with excitement.

Mari smiled. "Well, that's only one of them. Four more to go."

The teens all looked over to the side of the Arena and saw that Aiden had freed the Espeon, which had seemed to be taking a shine to him already, the Umbreon, the Larvitar and the Piplup from their cages. All of them looked eager or ready to bonded with one of the Trainees.

"Then what's next?" Keira asked.

"Phase 3." Mari answered simply, a smirk coming on her face. "Learning to fly."

A/N: A whole of things to take in, right? The next chapter, that's when things start to get even more crazy, with the final battle and all. 

Until Chapter 24, I'll see y'all! Please leave a comment about what you think. They are highly appreciated.

Got to fly! ;)